GAMIFICATION OF LEARNING AND STUDENT ENGAGEMENT

Student engagement is considered to be the externalization of student motivation. It is a multidimensional concept, encompassing behavioral, emotional and cognitive components. In the field of educational research, a new concept has recently emerged, aiming to increase student engagement through the use of game elements; gamification of learning. It has been suggested that the new generation of students is profoundly affected by the use of digital technology to the extent that a classic approach to teaching, even if it includes digital content, is not enough to attract the students’ attention. Gamification of learning may be the solution to the problem of low student engagement at school. The present study adopted a school consultation approach and aimed to assess the effects of gamification on student engagement in two Greek middle school classes (first and second junior high school) on the subject of geography. Student engagement was assessed by the teachers before gamification with the Teacher Engagement Report Form – New (TERF-N) questionnaire. Then, the two teachers were trained in the use of electronic platforms Kahoot! and ClassDojo, in order to effectively gamify students’ learning. After the gamification, student engagement was assessed again by the teachers with TERF-N. The results, although encouraging, were inconsistent, indicating that the effect of gamification on student engagement may be mediated by a number of confounding variables. After the implementation of gamification, students of one class showed a significant increase in all three types of engagement (behavioral, emotional and cognitive). However, the analyses did not demonstrate a significant increase in student engagement in the other class. Increased student engagement after gamification is consistent with previous findings, but the fact that engagement was not equally increased in both classes can be interpreted as relevant to issues pertaining to teachers’ motivation towards gamification.